Aston Hill Asset Management Inc. announces proposed mutual fund mergers and portfolio advisor changes

TORONTO, March 14, 2016 /CNW/ - Aston Hill Asset Management Inc. (the "Manager" or "Aston Hill"), the manager of Aston Hill Growth & Income Fund, Aston Hill Global Growth & Income Fund, Aston Hill High Income Fund, Aston Hill Growth & Income Class and Aston Hill Global Growth & Income Class and Aston Hill High Income Class (collectively, the "Funds") announced today that it will propose to securityholders the mergers (the "Mergers") of Aston Hill Growth & Income Fund and Aston Hill Global Growth & Income Fund (the "Terminating Funds") with Aston Hill High Income Fund (the "Continuing Fund") and Aston Hill Growth & Income Class and Aston Hill Global Growth & Income Class (the "Terminating Classes") with Aston Hill High Income Class (the "Continuing Class"). Further, the company also announced that effective immediately, in addition to his Portfolio Management responsibilities on the Aston Hill High Income Fund, CIO Ben Cheng will assume lead portfolio manager responsibilities for both the fund and class versions of Aston Hill Growth & Income and Aston Hill Global Growth & Income.

The Manager expects that the benefits for existing securityholders from the proposed Mergers will include:

• Economies of scale -  spreading the costs of running the Continuing Fund and Continuing Class over a larger asset base, thereby lowering the overall cost for the Continuing Fund and Continuing Class;
• The management fee of the two Terminating Funds and Terminating Classes will decrease by 10 basis points;
• Mergers will  be done on tax deferred basis thereby creating no tax consequences for securityholders; and
• All of the costs and expenses associated with the Mergers, including proxy solicitation, will be borne by the Manager and its affiliates.

Should the proposed mergers be approved, Aston Hill's Chief Investment Officer, Ben Cheng, will continue as the lead portfolio manager of the Continuing Fund and Continuing Class. Special meetings of the securityholders of the Funds will be held on or about May 9, 2016 to approve the mergers which, if approved, will be implemented on or about May 20, 2016.

Additional information concerning the proposed transactions will be contained in the materials which will be mailed to securityholders in connection with the special meetings and will be available in due course on www.sedar.com and at www.astonhill.ca.

Ben Cheng Aston Hill CIO and current Portfolio Manager of the Aston Hill High Income Fund will, effective immediately, take over portfolio manager responsibilities for both the fund and class versions of Aston Hill Growth & Income and Aston Hill Global Growth & Income.

"The mandates of the three funds we are discussing today are essentially the same." noted James Werry CEO of Aston Hill. "And we believe it is in security holders interest that we utilize Ben's strengths on these mandates going forward."

Ben brings more than twenty years of investment management experience to these income focused mandates. His valuation discipline and the careful use of option strategies focuses on generating a high amount of income without taking undue risk. Using a suite of asset classes and, where mandated, geographies, Ben is able to prudently position the fund to take advantage of a wide variety of yield opportunities.

About Aston Hill

Aston Hill is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aston Hill Financial Inc. (TSX: AHF). Aston Hill Financial Inc. is a diversified asset management company with a suite of retail mutual funds, closed end funds, hedge funds and segregated institutional funds. Aston Hill Financial is headquartered in Toronto.  

Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.

This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of such statements under applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking statements throughout this news release. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Aston Hill Asset Management Inc.

Ben Cheng, Chief Investment Officer Aston Hill Asset Management Inc., [phone], [email protected]; James Werry, Chief Executive Officer, Aston Hill Asset Management Inc., [phone], [email protected]